Steam producing stove for finnish baths



United States Patent flice 3,922,782 Patented Feb. 27, 1952 3,022,782 STEAM PRODUCING STOVE FOR FINNISH BATHS Wesley Byron Bryant, 464 Old La Honda Road, Woodside, Calif. Filed June 22, 1959, Ser. No. 821,918 1 Claim. (Cl. 126-344) This invention relates to a steam producing stove for so called Finnish baths.

In so called Finnish baths the steam is generated by throwing water on hot rocks. The primary object of the present invention is to provide a simple yet highly efficient and economical stove for the heating of the rocks, which stove is sturdy, well ventilated to the outside and efiicient in heat transmission so as to support a pile of rocks in convenient position and quickly heat the same when desired.

I am aware that some changes may be made in the general arrangements and combinations of the several devices and parts, as well as in the details of the construction thereof without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following specification, and as defined in the following claim; hence I do not limit my invention to the exact arrangements and combinations of the said device and parts as described in the said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exact details of the construction of the said parts as'illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

With the foregoining and other objects in view, which will be made manifest in the following detailed description, reference is had to the accompanying drawings for the illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rock heating stove unit.

FIG. 2 is a sectional side view showing the stove in relation to a wall of the steam room, the section being taken on lines 2-2 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional front view of the rock heating stove, and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, the section being taken on lines 44 of FIG. 2.

As herein illustrated, a cylindrical stove 1 is located adjacent a wall 2 of the steam room. An exhaust flue 3 of the stove 1 extends through an opening 4 of said wall so as to liberate the gases of combustion, after heat interchange, to the atmosphere.

On the top of the cylindrical stove 1 is secured a wide cylindrical band 5 to form a pocket or compartment 6 in which are piled rocks 7 of suitable size for quick heating and for providing comparatively large surface area for steam generating.

The bottom of the plate 8 of the pocket 6 also forms the top of the stove 1. The path of circulation of the products of combustion through the stove is so controlled that products of combustion impinge against the top plate of the stove or bottom of the pocket 6 and thereby heat the rocks 7 piled in the pocket 6.

The cylindrical stove 1 is formed of cylinder 9, the bottom edge 11 of which rests upon the support 12. An air intake 13 is provided near the bottom at the front of the cylinder 9. A suitable burner 14 is supported near and above the air intake 13 and is connected by a suitable pipe 16 to the fuel supply such as gas. An auxiliary air supply pipe 17 leads from the outside to said air intake 13 to provide added air for the combustion of the fuel.

The cylinder 9 is divided by a vertical or axial bafiie 18 into a combustion chamber 19 and an outlet chamber 21. The top edge 22 of the baffle 18 is spaced from the plate 8 so as to provide a passage 23 immediately beneath the 7 plate 8 for the flow of the products of combustion from the combustion chamber 19 to the outlet chamber 21.

In order to prevent the stove cylinder 9 from buckling under the load of the pile of rocks, there are provided three vertical angle bars 24. There is one bar at each edge of the baflle plate 18 for securing the bafiie plate to the inside of the stove cylinder 9. Another such angle bar 24 is suitably spaced from the previous two but out of the way of the air intake 13. Each of the angle bars 24 extends from the plane of the bottom edge 11 of the cylinder 9 to the top of the cylinder 9 so that the top plate 8 rests upon the angle bars 24 as well as on the top edge of the cylinder 9 and thus sturdy support is provided for the pile of stones on top without buckling, yet comparatively light construction of the stove is permissible. I

In operation the burner is lit in a suitable manner and draws the air for combustion through the ventilating opening and the ventilating pipe 17. The products of combustion rise in the combustion chamber upwardly and impinge against the bottom of the plate 8, then the products of combustion escape through the passage 23 after considerable intimate contact with the bottom of the plate 8 and then proceed downwardly in the outlet chamber 21 and out through the flue 3. The passage 23 causes considerable eddy currents causing the products of combustion to repeatedly impinge upon the bottom of the plate 8 before being drawn out through the flue 3.

This device can be quickly and easily installed in a Finnish steam room or chamber and it will support a comparatively large pile of rocks 7; it heats the rocks very rapidly so that very shortly after the lighting of the burner the rocks will be hot enough to be douzed with water to generate the steam as desired. The device is safe, simple and sturdy and emiently adapted for its purposes as herein described.

I claim:

In a steam generator device of the character described, an upright tubular casing, a burner near the bottom end of the casing, a top plate completely covering the top of said tubular casing, a ring flange around the top of the casing projecting above said plate to form an open receptacle for rocks to be heated; vertical brace bars secured to the inner periphery of said tubular casing being circumferentially spaced and extending from the bottom of the casing to the top thereof to support said top plate and relieve said casing from the stress of the Weight of said rocks, a bafile plate secured to said spaced brace bars and extending from the bottom upwardly and entirely across said tubular casing to divide said casing into a pair of vertical chambers, the top of said baflle plate being spaced from said top plate to form a passage for products of combustion from the chamber on one side of the baflle plate to the other chamber on the other side; said burner being on said one side of said baflie plate in the bottom region of the adjacent chamber of said tubular casing, and an outlet flue on the other side of the baflle plate in the lower region of the other chamber of said tubular casing to draw gases of combustion through said chambers and out of said casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 41,143 Evans Jan. '5, 1864 711,566 Hazard Oct. 21, 1902 1,493,020 Chapman May 6, 1924 1,528,522 Barbeck Mar. 3, 1925 2,092,139 Ramer Sept. 7, 1937 2,577,268 Razanen Dec. 4, 1951 2,737,175 Dunston Mar. 6, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 947,331 France Ian. 10, 1949 74,066 Norway Oct. 11, 1948 835151 Norway Feb. 22, 1954 

